The Crystalline Drive
by MTPrower002
Summary: It’s Christmas again in Station Square. Tails is throwing a holiday bash, and Sonic is running through the city in near blizzard conditions in search of the perfect present for Amy, but doesn't find it until he realizes something...SonAmy. R&R.


"**The Crystalline Drive"**

**Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Station Square, Tails, Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Eggman, Rouge, Shadow, Little Planet, or any other copyrighted or trademarked characters/settings/objects in this story - they belong to Sega, Sonic Team, and any other respective companies/parties.**

**Summary: It's Christmas again in Station Square. Tails is throwing a holiday bash, and Sonic is running through the city in near-blizzard conditions in search of the perfect present for Amy. However, he doesn't find it until he realizes something about their relationship, with help from an unexpected source.**

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated.

* * *

**

"We're expecting near-blizzard conditions for the greater Station Square area tonight; travel will be nearly impossible, so be sure to get to where you're going early..."

The voice of the TV meteorologist echoed around the hangar, mixing with the light buzz of the fluorescent lighting and "Silver Bells" playing on the radio in the corner. Tails Prower looked up at the screen when he heard this, a grimace on his face. It looked like he would have to finish his preparations earlier than he had anticipated. His annual Christmas bash had been a hit for the past several years - the first one he had was just a small get-together of a few of his friends, but Sonic, in his infinite wisdom, started to invite more and more people in subsequent years - and who would turn down an invitation from a world-renowned hero? Before long, thanks to word-of-mouth referrals, Tails' party became an event for the entire neighborhood – the locals had dubbed the event "The Prower Persuasion." Tails rolled his eyes to himself as he thought of how quickly this whole thing had grown (and what a stupid name "The Prower Persuasion" was), wondering why this couldn't have happened to his best friend Sonic instead, as he was just the opposite of Tails in that he loved the spotlight. Still, Tails couldn't deny that his parties were a great time, and he rather enjoyed being a master of ceremonies every December 25th.

And so, it was about noon on Christmas Day - Tails had been running around the hangar on top of the high-rise apartment building in Station Square where he lived, getting it ready for the evening's festivities, as the hangar would be the site of the party (his apartment couldn't hold hundreds of people, naturally) - he moved to the city some time ago to be closer to his friends, making a deal with the landlords to have a private hangar for the Tornado III built atop the skyscraper.

Of course, Amy, Sonic, Knuckles, and the rest of his close friends lived too far away from him to walk there, so he hoped they'd make it to the hangar before the storm. _White Christmas, indeed_, Tails scoffed inwardly. He muttered under his breath while pulling out some lights and a wreath from the storage closet - nothing was going to stop the bash from going on, and Tails worked at a more inspired pace for the rest of the afternoon. Tails, however, wasn't the only one fighting deadlines...

* * *

"Well, I mean, I've been busy doing other stuff..." 

"Like what? Eggman's in prison and you're only DJ-ing three nights a week, it's not like you didn't have time to think this through."

"But Knux, I used up my good idea last year!"

"It was a freaking gift card, Sonic! That's what you get when you're out of good ideas."

"Whatever. But I still need your help. I need to get something that won't get her slobbering all over me--"

"Sonic, you know perfectly well you could get her a pair of three-dollar sunglasses from the Quickie Mart and she'd take it as a token of your undying affection."

"Have you even noticed how she's grown, Knux? She's not really like that anymore."

"I know, I know, I was just trying to get you to stop bugging me. I'd help you out if I could, but I don't have any better ideas than you do. You're on your own, bro."

Sonic sighed in frustration. "Fine, thanks anyway. I'll see you tonight."

"Good luck."

Sonic flipped his phone closed - when it promptly slipped out of his hand and into the decorative fountain he was sitting beside. There was a sharp crackling as it shorted out.

The blue hedgehog buried his face in his hands in disbelief at his luck. It had been a relatively poor Christmas for him so far - he still had to shop for Amy before Tails' party, which was only a few hours away. It had become tradition among Sonic and his friends not to do the gift exchanging until Christmas night, to coincide with Tails' party. Naturally, Sonic had no idea where to start. His other shopping had long since been done, but Miss Rose was an especially difficult person to shop for. Sonic wasn't worried about Amy taking his gift as a sign of romantic love, as Knuckles had jokingly suggested - but he honestly didn't know what the girl would want. She seemed to be the hedgehog that had everything, so Sonic wanted to make the gift more personal - he didn't want to give anything that was subpar to what he had gotten the rest of his friends - he cared about Amy just as much as anyone else, of course, and he wasn't going to take advantage of her affection for him by not getting her something good, and expecting her to just take it.

Be that as it were, he was standing in the middle of Station Square's largest mall, lamenting the loss of his cell phone. However, there wasn't time to dwell on it, as he set off in pursuit of the perfect gift.

* * *

The sun started to spin toward the horizon early, as it always did in December - but it hardly seemed to matter. Station Square had already been blanketed in clean, white snow during the weeks preceding Christmas, and its glow lit up the town at night. The city-dwellers were about to get something above and beyond dreams of a white Christmas, however. 

Sonic trudged out of the mall at about five o'clock, still giftless, staring at the ground. Why was it he couldn't pick anything? It was just a stupid Christmas gift! _Get her something and move on, hedgehog_, he thought to himself. Why did he care so much about Amy's reaction? He couldn't figure it out - he just knew he got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought of disappointing Amy.

His thoughts were broken when he looked up - he was facing what was almost a wall of snow. On top of that, more of the white stuff continued to relentlessly speed down from the skies, with the winds at a near-blizzard level. Sonic couldn't believe it - he had no idea this was coming. He made his way up the hill of snow and had a look around - the snowdrifts were piled as far as he could see.

Our hero started to panic - one hour until the party, and he had to scramble through this ill-timed winter paradise to get Amy's gift and show up to the hangar.

* * *

"Get rid of that thing, Knucklehead." 

"Hey, come on! Everyone loves the Persuasion!"

"Except for your host. It sounds like I'm some sort of second-rate male stripper."

Tails was none too happy about the giant banner that Knuckles and Rouge had brought in to hang up, bearing the words "THE 7TH ANNUAL PROWER PERSUASION" in deep orange. It was Christmas after all, though, so he let them have their fun. Knuckles ended up hanging the banner off the Tornado III, along with a large picture of Tails in a tux doing a James Bond-esque pose that he had very reluctantly agreed to do a few days earlier. He smiled and shook his head when he saw it - he should have known that something was up, as Knucklehead hadn't even told him what it was for.

Amy had arrived a few minutes beforehand, and resumed chatting with Tails while Knuckles and Rouge busied themselves with the banner.

"Wonder why Sonic isn't here. We always meet up before the crowds start coming..."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon, Amy. He's not one to miss a big party - probably just got stuck in that weather outside."

"Yeah...I'm just anxious about him coming. I know I see him a lot but...Christmas is special, you know? You want to spend it with the one you love, even if..." Amy's voice trailed off.

"What's that, Amy?"

"Nothing...I mean, Sonic and I have really become good friends, and I was hoping, you know, this might be...it. I got him something really good this year, and I was thinking that just maybe, he might start to look at me the way I've always looked at him."

"You know you can't buy him, Amy."

"I know...I'm just hoping that maybe the fact that it's Christmas will put him in a...I don't know, more loving spirit."

Tails smiled to himself as Amy walked away. Yup, same old Amy - she'd grown up a lot, but her love for his best friend had never changed.

* * *

As hard as Sonic's tasked initially seemed to him, it turned out to be even more of a challenge - nearly every store in the city was closed after he left the mall, either due to it being Christmas Day or the fact that no one could get to them because of the blizzard. After a few hours of searching, thwarted by both the closings and his own indecision, Sonic finally gave up, taking refuge from the winds in a small alcove off a side street. He glanced at his watch - 8 PM. Great. He now had no chance of getting anything for Amy, and Tails' party had been going on for two hours. He was absolutely irate at himself. How could he have been so stupid? What was keeping him from just buying Amy a necklace, a bracelet, or a dress? With all the money he had, being an international celebrity, he could have even bought her a new car on a whim. Why was nothing good enough? 

"All right there, faker?"

Sonic spun around and found himself face-to-face with Shadow.

"What do you want?" Sonic sighed.

"Is that anyway to greet a friend on Christmas?"

"Sorry. I'm just a little...frustrated right now."

"Over what? Can't find another endorsement deal?"

"I'm really not in the mood. Shut up or go away."

"Fine. But what are you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn't you be at Tails' place?"

"Hey, how come I never see you there?"

"I despise parties," Shadow said coldly. "Answer my question."

"Yeah, I should be there, but I've been trying to spend the past few hours trying to find Amy a gift. I've got nothing, though--"

"Why not?"

"I don't know. No matter what I try to get her, something doesn't feel right."

Shadow let out a mirthless laugh. "It's obvious what's going on here."

The black hedgehog's behavior was starting to get on Sonic's nerves. "Oh, really? What is it then, smart guy?"

"You, my blue friend, are in love."

Sonic just stared back. "That's absurd."

"Is it? Sonic, you've known Rose for a long time. But I've seen the way you two have interacted lately. You're worried about impressing her - it looks like she's finally worn you down after all these years. You know exactly what she likes, but you're still agonizing over it, just because you want to impress her. She's not just a friend to you, as Prower and the echidna and the bat are - you wouldn't be doing this for any of them."

Sonic was flabbergasted. All he could do was stutter out a few incoherent sounds, and stare back at his black counterpart.

"Ha...I knew it. Chew on that for a while. Merry Christmas."

Shadow sped off, leaving Sonic to do some soul-searching. It didn't take him long to realize that Shadow was right, the uppity bastard. Sonic had undeniably been attracted to Amy over about the past year or so – though there was just some part of him that wanted to keep the status quo - her chasing, him evading – he just never saw Amy as girlfriend material. She didn't "chase" in the usual sense of the word anymore, but her devotion to Sonic was still there, a constant in both their lives. Something about a relationship with Amy just seemed odd to Sonic, perhaps because of their long history together as friends. But, everything aside, Shadow was right about Sonic - his indecision was his desire to impress Amy manifesting itself.

Sonic nearly slammed his head against the wall of the alcove, cursing himself for not seeing it before. If he realized that he had liked...no, been in love with Amy beforehand, he would have known to ignore the butterflies in his stomach over a mere Christmas gift, knowing what caused them was just insecurity. Sonic, did, in fact, love Amy - he knew her very well after all these years, and he now knew that his feelings for her were far beyond a mere crush – he knew the true Amy, and he loved her.

But now, of course, he was without a gift and miles away from Tails' party.

Suddenly, in an epiphany, he knew how to make Amy's Christmas the best one ever.

* * *

Tails looked over the crowd as he sat on a wing of the Tornado III. Yes, another year, another smashing success. The crowd was the biggest ever, and they apparently took very well to the band Tails had chosen to perform live. However, Tails grew worried at the fact that there was still no sign of Sonic. The weather was bad, yes, but this is the world-famous Sonic the Hedgehog - he could get through it. Amy, too, was nowhere to be seen. Concerned, Tails spent the next twenty minutes looking for his pink friend, to no avail. He finally stepped out onto the roof, where he found Amy leaning against a vent, sobbing. 

"Amy!" Tails half-yelled through the wind. "It's a damn blizzard up here! What are you doing?"

"I don't care! Sonic isn't here!"

"Oh, come on now, Amy--"

"No! Haven't you seen how weird he's been acting around me lately? He obviously didn't want to spend Christmas with me--"

"Amy, Sonic's your friend, you know he'd never just ditch you--"

"He's YOUR friend! Nothing can stop him from going where he wants to be, and he chose not to come here tonight - I'll bet he still just sees me as a pest! Why else wouldn't he be here? He won't even answer when I call!"

"I'm sure he's got a good reason. You mean a lot to him, Amy, please don't--"

"Then why isn't he here? Who else would he be avoiding? He knew I really wanted to see him..." Amy started weeping uncontrollably, as Tails was able to talk her back down into the hangar, where she continued sobbing on Tails' couch.

* * *

Sonic put down his pen and took in his work. Yes, that would do just fine. He made his way out of his apartment shortly past nine. 

When he got outside, the wind was whipping harder than ever, while the snow just kept falling. He could run, but the wind would blow him off-course, and he'd also likely sink in the snow, so he had to abandon his famed speed and jog over to Tails' hangar. By the time he got there, it was nearly ten - his eyes were bloodshot from the wind, and his quills had been blown around and were sticking out in random places.

"_Where have you been?_" Tails exclaimed when he saw his weather-beaten pal trudge through the doors. "You weren't answering your phone--"

"I know, I know - I accidentally dropped it in some water today."

"But we started hours ago! We were all looking forward to seeing you, especially Amy, poor thing - the weather couldn't have slowed you down that much. What took you?"

"Tails, I'm such an idiot...I couldn't think of what to get Amy, and I looked around town all day for her gift - but I think I finally have something that'll make her night."

"That might be easier said than done. She went home in tears after you didn't show."

Sonic felt crushed – never before had he felt like more of a jerk. Poor Amy...Sonic didn't fancy trekking through the blizzard again, but there seemed to be no alternative - he had to make things right.

* * *

As he knocked on Amy's door an hour later, he was still shaking from the cold. He couldn't feel his feet, and he was pretty sure miniature icicles had formed on his eyelashes. Sonic didn't remember ever feeling this exhausted, or this nervous, in his life. 

"Who is it?" Amy called from the other side, a twinge of melancholy in her voice.

"It's me."

There was no response for a few moments, then:

"Go away, Sonic."

"Amy...please...just talk to me..."

"Just go. You had no problem with standing me up tonight, you had no problem not answering my calls…why are you here now? I don't care if you don't like me, but...why..."

Sonic could hear her start to sob on the other side of the door as she finished that last sentence. All he could do is keep pleading with Amy - she finally opened the door after a minute, and her sadness instantly turned to shock at the sight before her - Sonic was looking very beaten, and still shaking - Amy had never seen her hero look this bad. She forgot about her anger and disappointment temporarily and laid him down on her couch, covering him with a quilt.

"Amy...so sorry...tried to make it on time, but couldn't decide what to get you…dropped my phone in some water…wanted it to be perfect...searched high and low, but I finally found something good...please, I know you're mad, I know I screwed up, but I just hope you can forgive me...I was caught in the storm, and I couldn't run...I'm so sorry, Amy, you shouldn't have had to go through this, it's Christmas...please..."

Amy was nearly brought to tears again at the sight - how could she have been mad at him? He looked like he had been through hell and back, all for her. Now, her attention was diverted by the small box Sonic pulled out of his pocket and handed to her. She opened it, and inside was a small bundle wrapped in paper, and a note, which she read first:

_Amy,_

_We've known each other for ten years now, and we've seen it all together. I wouldn't trade our shared experiences for anything in the world. I know that when we were younger, there were some times when I was less than considerate and I apologize if I ever made you feel unimportant, but the truth is, you've never been far from my thoughts. The friendship that's developed between us is something I treasure like nothing else, but I always felt that something was missing from my life - and it wasn't until today that I realized what it was. Amy, after all these years...I love you. You mean the world to me, and I couldn't live without you by my side. You have always been there for me - I can't ask for anything more than all the love you've shown me. You're all I'll ever need, Amy - it took me a long time to realize it, but I love you more than you could ever know._

_All my love,_

_Sonic_

Tears streaming down her face, she fumbled with the package - out fell a blue-and-pink piece of quartz, shaped like the four points of a compass.

"It's from Quartz Quadrant on Little Planet," Sonic said, smiling awkwardly, "I found it there just a little while before I rescued you, remember--"

Sonic was interrupted by Amy throwing his arms around him, still clutching the quartz, and giving him a long kiss - it was soft and sweet, a reflection of the pure love they finally shared.

"I love you, Sonic."

"And I love you, Amy."

They laid there in a loving embrace, entranced in a moment they would remember forever.

* * *

Shadow got out of his bed as the sun peeked through his blinds - he automatically walked toward his kitchen for a glass of water. 

Something caught his eye, though - a piece of paper that had been slipped under his door. He picked it up and saw that it was just a one-word message:

_Thanks._

_--Sonic_

Shadow could only smile, a rare feat for him, and whisper, "You're welcome."

**END**


End file.
